Basil of Jerusalem

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Basil of Jerusalem was the Patriarch of Jerusalem from 821 to 842. He opposed iconoclasm, the idea that religious images should not be honored, which Emperor Theophilus supported. Basil followed his predecessor Thomas I and worked to defend the use of icons. In 836 he organized a council in Jerusalem that defended icon veneration. He sent the council’s stance to Theophilus in a letter carried by a church official named Michael. The emperor, who was against icons, jailed Michael when the letter arrived. In 841 Basil helped protect Jerusalem from an attack by the Arab rebel Abu Harb al-Mubarqa by paying him to stop. Basil died in 842, and the Arabs installed Sergius I as his successor.